Coastal trade permit (cabotage)

Traffic conducted in Swedish controlled water and between Swedish ports is reserved for Swedish flagged vessels by Swedish law. This regulation is called maritime cabotage. Foreign vessels may only engage in domestic traffic for occasional trips by special permission of the Swedish Transport Agency, so called coastal trade permit.

Transport of goods or passengers by sea between two places in Sweden is reserved for Swedish flagged vessels by Swedish maritime cabotage regulations. There are exemptions from this principal in certain cases for coastal trade by a non-Swedish vessel.

1. Traffic by EU-flagged vessels and vessels in the approved registers,
2. Traffic by vessels from countries where bilateral agreements on mutual access are available
3. Operations of vessels which have been granted coastal trade permits for a single trip (so-called ad hoc mode)